New Kid on the Block

Orange Is the New Black: Could This Oscar-Winner Be Next Season’s Big Bad?

With apologies to that fantastic Lori Petty, the best addition to Orange Is the New Black this year is unquestionably Lorraine Toussaint’s big bad, Vee Parker. Now Oscar-winner Mary Steenburgen has announced that she’s been cast in Season 3 of the Netflix series which is currently in production. Could she be next year’s big bad? Steenburgen’s delicate and demure voice and look has netted her a series of sweet-tempered roles over the years including Doc Brown’s lady love Clara in Back to the Future III, an exaggerated version of herself on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and her Academy Award–winning performance in 1980’s Melvin and Howard. But this year Steenburgen got a chance to show off her nastier side with a scene-stealing recurring role on FX’s Justified.

When we spoke to Justified creator Graham Yost earlier this year, he said the actress will be back in a big way for next season. That means we could get a double dose of a foul-mouthed Steenburgen in 2015. When Orange Is the New Black premiered last year, it never really struck me as the kind of show that would rotate a different big bad each year. (The badness was spread out over several characters and the prison system in general in Season 1.) But after watching the impressive amount of drama generated by the addition of Toussaint, I think the idea of adding someone new and forceful each year to flip the group and character dynamics is both brilliant and necessary. The big question is, will Steenburgen be a new inmate or will she be part of the administration? According to Steenburgen herself, it could go either way.